Position of 21 day eggs

[h2oratt]

It sounds like you are having a staggered hatched . That is not good. You can’t keep letting them add eggs once she starts sitting. A mother hen can’t manage a staggered hatch.

 

[Cindilong]

Well, it is not a good thing, either for eggs during incubation or to tell if eggs are 'good' or 'bad' for eating...and the two are often confused.

Haven't absorbed this entire story yet...but OyVey!
Glad you got some live chicks out of it.

Here's the float test I used. The issue might be that different hens continued to lay eggs in this hen's nest after she started setting, so maybe these eggs aren't far enough along yet for this test to be reliable.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...iability-for-late-or-overdue-hatching.383525/

 

[Cindilong]

It sounds like you are having a staggered hatched . That is not good. You can’t keep letting them add eggs once she starts sitting. A mother hen can’t manage a staggered hatch.

Yes that's exactly what has happened. It's really hard to control unless you have a method you can teach me! Say she starts setting and she's got 12 eggs, should I mark them with a pencil and that way I can tell if other hens add new eggs? All prior years I've just let whatever happens happen. I usually buy the chicks I want from the feed store, and I usually have two or three clutches hatch outside and are raised by one or two hens. Wastes a lot of fertilized eggs though.

 

[aart]

Here's the float test I used.

Yes, am familiar.
Sounds good in theory, but in practice its not accurate.
Not all embryos will move when we want them too,
and could cause damage/death to embryo.

Say she starts setting and she's got 12 eggs, should I mark them with a pencil and that way I can tell if other hens add new eggs?

Yes...then remove any fresh eggs daily.
Or you can sequester broody in an area inaccessible by the layers.
I put up a wire wall in coop.

 

[Cindilong]

Yes, am familiar.
Sounds good in theory, but in practice its not accurate.
Not all embryos will move when we want them too,
and could cause damage/death to embryo.


Yes...then remove any fresh eggs daily.
Or you can sequester broody in an area inaccessible by the layers.
I put up a wire wall in coop.

Great idea, thank you!

 

[h2oratt]

Yes that's exactly what has happened. It's really hard to control unless you have a method you can teach me! Say she starts setting and she's got 12 eggs, should I mark them with a pencil and that way I can tell if other hens add new eggs? All prior years I've just let whatever happens happen. I usually buy the chicks I want from the feed store, and I usually have two or three clutches hatch outside and are raised by one or two hens. Wastes a lot of fertilized eggs though.

Yes you mark them with a pencil, a big x. You need to go every day and get the new eggs. I put my Broody in her own area by herself. So when the chicks hatc no one can hurt them.